The Rolling Stones retired one of their most popular rock songs due to lyrics that depict the horrors of slavery.
The Stones have not played …
The Rolling Stones retired one of their most popular rock songs due to lyrics that depict the horrors of slavery. The Stones have not played the 1971 hit «Brown Sugar» on their current tour and said the blues classic has been removed from their setlist. «You picked up on that, huh?,» Keith Richards,77, responded to the LA Times when asked if the Stones had cut the second-most-performed tune in their catalog amid a climate of heightened cultural sensitivity. «I don’t know. I’m trying to figure out with the sisters quite where the beef is. Didn’t they understand this was a song about the horrors of slavery? But they’re trying to bury it.» The first verse of the hit song depicts slaves being sold and beaten in Louisiana, with references to a «slaver» who whips «women just around midnight.» The famous chorus portrays a non-consensual sex encounter between the violent master and a young female slave, while possibly also alluding to heroin use. In the next verse, the song describes the abuse suffered by slaves on a plantation. Lead singer Mick Jagger ends the tune by singing, «How come you taste so good… just like a black girl should.
